Ed Sheeran Brisbane review: Opening night concert a road trip for the senses

An intimate crowd of more than 57,000 squeezed into Suncorp Stadium on Friday night to wish superstar singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran a happy birthday on the first of three Brisbane concerts on his Mathematics tour.

An intimate crowd of more than 57,000 squeezed into Suncorp Stadium on Friday night to wish superstar singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran a happy birthday as he kicked off the Australian leg of his Mathematics tour in Brisbane.

“Tonight is my 32nd birthday and I am so happy to be spending it with you,” Ed Sheeran told the mostly standing crowd after opening with fireworks, flames and two songs from his most recent album that took fans from whisper quiet moments in Tides to 106 decibels of power in Blow.

He stood on a circular stage in front of the largest crowd Suncorp Stadium has ever seen, with celebrity spotters even spying Australian actor Chris Hemsworth and his daughter in the sea of faces.

A wraparound cage of screens hovered overhead while an array of LED displays shot up into the air like psychedelic chandeliers, changing theme with every song, as lasers and pyrotechnics lit up the night sky.

Ed Sheeran pictured at Friday night’s concert at Suncorp Stadium. (Image/Josh Woning)

The high-octane crowd had been warmed by support acts including UK singer-songwriter Maisie Peters and Gold Coast-based Budjerah who was performing in his very first stadium concert and had his own fan club in the stadium.

“He’s Indigenous, he’s Australian, he’s 19, and he’s amazing,” said Brigid Bond of Brisbane’s Upper Kedron.

“I’ve come to see Ed but I’m also here for Budjerah.”

The two-time ARIA award winner threw himself into every number, walking around the circular stage to make sure the entire stadium got to see how genuinely pumped he was to be there.

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“I’ve never, ever done anything like this, this is crazy,” Budjerah said.

“And because this is such a special occasion performing with Mr Sheeran, I’d like to sing a new song that hasn’t been released yet. It’s called Video.”

With two more Brisbane concerts to go on Saturday and Sunday nights, almost 180,000 fans will hear Budjerah’s fearless vocal range by the end of the weekend. And then there’s Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth audiences to come.

A wraparound cage of screens hovered overhead while an array of LED displays shot up into the air like psychedelic chandeliers. (Image/Josh Woning)

Ed Sheeran already holds the title of drawing more crowds to an Australian concert tour than any other performer, with more than one million tickets sold during the Divide tour in 2018.

To avoid the crowd chaos experienced by Red Hot Chili Peppers ticketholders last month, Ticketek reminded fans to turn up by 5pm and free public transport was offered from lunchtime to get the capacity crowd into the venue.

By 5.45pm, a problem with electronic tickets not loading had been sorted and crowds were ushered to their seats before Sheeran took to the stage with a guitar, a loop station, and the occasional addition of his backing band.

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“It felt like on the Divide tour, we played to almost nine million people, and nine million people saw the one man show,” Sheeran told the crowd.

“And I felt that if I’m coming back this time I can’t just bring exactly the same show back, which is why I have the round and the fireworks and fire and all that sort of stuff.

“And I found that on the last tour there were a couple of songs, they just sounded a bit lank, I’ll be honest.

“They didn’t sound great, and I’ve played with these lads for a very, very long time and we jam and we have fun.”

And high-energy fun was had by all.

Maisie Peters pictured performing at the Ed Sheeran concert at Suncorp Stadium. (Image/Josh Woning)

Sheeran’s stacked set of 23 songs was a road trip for the senses as fans sang and danced to Castle on the Hill, Galway Girl, Bad Habits and Shivers, and heard snippets of the long and windy journey that has taken Sheeran from a small farming town in England to the international stage.

The crowd sang happy birthday and Sheeran “blew out” 57,000 glowing phones to commemorate the occasion, explaining that he loved spending his birthday on stage because “this is the happiest that I am”.

The crowd was genuinely happy too, and judging from the concert debriefs at train stations on the way home after the gig, their hearts will stay the same until he returns.